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Re: Scrambled TV
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net>
To: <bri@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: Scrambled TV
> I assume pay-TV was a failure in the market since it no longer exists. Am I
> correct? How long did it last?
Not a failure exactly, it's just that the audience was very limited.
If your home was unable to receive your signal, then you could not subscribe.
If it was a marginal signal, then you would get a marginal signal. Because we are located at the bottom of a hill facing away from the Needham antenna farm, I was unable to watch Ch. 38 on the kitchen TV, but it came in snowy but usually watchable in my bedroom. Most of the other stations in Boston ghosted. The only one that came in clear was Ch. 68 because we have line of sight to the Pru. Keep in mind, this was in the city, not a suburb.
In other words, the quality of the product was determined by the quality of the signal in a specific area. Cable more or less guaranteed the quality of the signal.
>
> I'm surprised there is no rule against scrambling a commercially licensed
> station. How can you serve the public if most of the public can't watch or
> listen? I'm not big on regulation, but over-the-air pay-TV goes to far for
> me.
If you provide a service that a segment of the public wants, then you are serving the public interest. IIRC, WSMW (CH. 27) at one point was running local and/or syndicated programming in the clear until about 7 p.m. at which time they would turn on the switch over to the Preview service. I am not sure about Ch. 68.
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Tony Abruzzese e-mail: abruzzese@biochem.bumc.bu.edu
Network Administrator Biochemistry Department
Boston University School of Medicine
Telephone:617.638.5092 Fax:617.638.5339
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